Shipwrecked
by M.J. Blacklake
Summary: Rukia is Ichigo's best friend. With one life altering event, things will change between the two of them forever. Will it last? Includes several other characters. Disclaimer: I do not own the Bleach characters
1. Friends?

**A/N: Hey guys! This is my first attempt at fanfic. Let me know how I'm doing! R&R and all that good stuff! Also, let me know if there is anything in particular you'd like to see. Input and ideas are always appreciated. More to come!**

**I do not own the Bleach characters.**

"You IDIOT!" She screamed, "I'm going to KILL you!"

I laughed as I dodged her poorly aimed pillow. "You're adorable when you're mad," I replied, narrowly dodging her fist to my side. For the past 2 hours I had been soundly beating her at Super Smash Bros. Brawl, and she had finally snapped. "Don't be violent shorty! It's only a game…" I teased her, purposely using my nickname for her that I know she doesn't like.

"Just because you found a character with a big sword that— "She cut off mid rant. "Did you just call me _shorty_?"

I tried my best to look innocent. "I have no idea what you mean…shorty."

And that was when she really lost it.

* * *

A few minutes later I had finally stopped laughing and she had cooled down from her tirade enough to sit calmly in her bean bag chair in front of the TV. For a few seconds, we just stared at each other. I was just about to say something, when a yell from downstairs in the kitchen echoed up the stairs. "Oi! Ichigo! If you want to eat dinner tonight, you'd better get your butt down here in a hurry!" I sighed. That's Renji for you. Always saying something at the worst possible moment. I wondered, not for the first time, why I was living with him. I broke the silence between Rukia and I with a question.

"Would you like to stay for dinner?"

"Uh…"

Her hesitation was understandable. A few days ago she had confessed to me that, about a week ago while they were clubbing with some of our other friends, she had kissed Renji. Sometimes being her best friend was really hard. I wasn't sure why, but knowing that she had kissed him really pissed me off. Of course, she had quickly followed up her confession by saying that they had both had more than a few drinks, and she doubted that he remembered it. I wasn't so sure. I mean, I know _I_ would never forget kissing Rukia, no matter how many drinks I'd had. "If you're too afraid to face him like a man, you can slink out of my room in the same way you came in—through my window."

"I'm not afraid of him." She insisted.

"Prove it."

Without saying anything else, she got up and walked out of my bedroom, turning down the hallway towards the stairs. I scrambled to catch up, hastily turning off the Wii. I caught up with her at the top of the stairs. Going down first, I turned the corner at the bottom and walked into the kitchen.

"Yo, Renji, we have a guest for dinner." I said walking up to him and pointing behind myself at Rukia.

"Oh hey, Rukia!" He said, glancing past me. "When did you get here?"

"A few hours ago." She calmly replied. "Ichigo wouldn't stop whining about how bored he was while all of his roommates were doing homework or at work, so I came over to play video games with him. If only to get him to stop texting me every 30 seconds."

"Hey!" I exclaimed. "I was not whining!"

"You were too! Like a little girl."

"Well at least I don't suck at Brawl."

"Take that back! It's not my fault that the controllers have buttons in all the wrong places!"

"Are you guy ready to eat?" Renji said, smoothly interrupting our bickering before it came to blows.

"Yep." I replied quickly before Rukia had the chance to say something significantly more offensive. "Are Ishida and Noba joining us?"

"I think so. Let me go get them real quick." He said, running up the stairs calling their names.

As soon as he was up the stairs, Rukia punched me in the arm. "Oi!" I snapped, glaring at her. "What was that for?!"

"You're so annoying!" She replied.

"Then why do you keep coming over?"

She stuttered for a minute, unable to come up with a comeback, before she was saved from replying by the timely arrival of Renji, Ishida and Noba. "Let's eat!" Renji exclaimed.

* * *

Halfway through dinner, Rukia finally stopped glaring at everything that moved. "Is everybody excited for our end of semester cruise?" Ishida asked, kindling the conversation. Nods and sounds in the affirmative answered his question.

"Who is for sure coming again?" I asked.

"Hmmm… I know that Toshiro, Momo, Orihime, Rangiku, Kaien and all of us are planning on going for sure. But there are a few others who might yet tag along." Ishida replied.

For the past month, we had been planning on a huge cruise to the Caribbean to celebrate the end of the semester. We were all pretty excited and even Rukia poked her head out of her gloom to join the conversation and planning that went on for the rest of dinner. After we had eaten as much as we could, we cleaned up dinner and did the dishes.

"I think I'm going to head back to my apartment." Rukia said to me, as we dried the last of the dishes.

"Will you be departing through my window or the door?" I quipped.

She sighed, heading towards the stairs. "Your window, obviously, since all of my things are still up in your room."

"Okay," I said, following her up the stairs. I stopped just inside my bedroom doorway. "Rukia," I started to ask a question.

She paused in collecting her things and looked up at me. "Yeah?"

I mustered up the courage to say what I'd wanted to say for some time, but chickened out at the last minute. Man, I was turning into such a pussy. "You'll be safe walking home?" I asked instead. She just gave me an exasperated look. "Okay," I said, raising my arms up in surrender, just in case she got any funny ideas about hitting me. "Just thought I'd ask."

"Goodnight Ichigo," She said, moving towards the window.

On an impulse, I crossed the room in two strides and grabbed her wrist, pulling her into my arms. Squeezing her and lifting her tiny frame off of the ground slightly, I savored the feel of her in my arms for a second before setting her gently on the ground again. "Have a good night, Rukia." I whispered softly.

She looked at me with an unreadable expression, and disappeared through my window into the night.


	2. Rukia

It was the blaring of my alarm that woke me up. I jolted into a sitting position and slammed my hand down on top of the alarm, effectively silencing it. _I really don't want to go to class today,_ I thought, as I climbed slowly out of bed. It was also Monday, which didn't help my motivation at all. Honestly, the only thing that got me moving into a shower was the reminder that I shared my first class of the day with Ichigo, Renji, and Noba, or, as I like to call them, the reds. Everybody in their apartment had varying shades of red hair, except Ishida, who had black hair. Between Ichigo's bright orange hair, Renji's auburn mop, and Noba's soft russet colored fringe, they were a spectrum of red. Since we, along with Ishida, Momo, and Toshiro, all went to the same university, we had decided to take advantage of it and enroll in as many classes together as we possibly could. It had made the year much more enjoyable, but for our professors…decidedly less so. After quickly showering, I threw on a purple sundress and contemplated myself in the mirror. _How much do I care about my appearance today?_ I asked myself. After weighing my options, I decided that I didn't care enough to do more than the basics. I dried the parts of my short black hair that were still damp, and applied mascara to my eyes. Giving myself a final look-over in the mirror, I tried, unsuccessfully, to get the hair that was supposed to be framing my face to do something other than hang in my eyes. _Why do I even try?_ I sighed, giving up. Looking at the clock by my bed, I rushed to grab my school books and bag. I was going to be late, again.

* * *

I didn't realize I'd forgotten my phone at my apartment until I was on the train with no music to listen to. With nothing else to think about, my brain decided to replay the events of a few nights ago, when I had spent the evening with Ichigo and his roommates. Unbidden, the memory of the unexpected hug sprang into my mind, bringing with it a strange mix of emotions I couldn't quite identify. It had surprised me, if nothing else. And yet, if I was honest with myself, there was something different about him in that moment. _It was the look in his eyes, _I suddenly realized. Thankfully, the train arrived at my stop, and I was too busy rushing to class to think about it further.

Of course I realized as soon as I walked into the lecture hall that I would have to talk to him. Walking to our usual row in the lecture hall, I saw that there were two open seats. One by Noba, and the other by Ichigo. I elected to sit by Noba.

"'Sup wankers," I said by way of greeting. My greetings to the reds varied from day to day, depending on my mood. Today I'd opted for insulting.

"Rukia," Ichigo said. "Has anyone ever told you that you have a shockingly dirty mouth?"

"Has anyone ever told you to wear a hat in order to prevent your hair from causing car accidents when you cross the street?" I retorted.

"Oooo… Ichigo," Renji chuckled. "Would you like some ice for that burn?"

Ichigo's face turned almost as red as Noba's hair. He sputtered for a few seconds, but before he could come up with a sufficient retort, the professor walked in and started in on his lecture, effectively quieting the room. Within 5 minutes, I was bored out of my mind. Physics had never been my strongest subject, and Ichigo was taking his usual copious notes, so I would just have him help me study later, as usual. I took out one of my notebooks, opened it to a blank page, and quickly made a tic-tac-toe grid. Putting an X in the middle square, I passed it to Noba. In the next 35 minutes of class, Noba had won 19 of the 20 games we'd played. When he handed my notebook back to me after winning yet another game, it was accompanied by a note:

_Something on your mind?_

His neat cursive ran across the bottom of the page. I shot a glance up at Noba, but he was staring at the whiteboards at the front of the lecture hall, impassive as ever. I'm constantly forgetting how perceptive Noba really is, which is why I didn't even try to deny it.

_**How could you tell? **_I replied in my tidy print.

_You're less creative with your insults when you're worrying about something._

Really? That was what gave me away?

Huh.

_Do I tell him? _ I thought to myself, and then mentally slapped myself upside the head. Of course I should tell him. Everybody knows that Noba is a black hole. Whatever you tell him goes in, and never comes back out.

_**I was thinking on the train over here about a few nights ago, when I was over at your apartment. Ichigo gave me a hug as I was leaving, and I don't know how I feel about it.**_

I handed the notebook back, and studied his face as he read to see his reaction. It was like trying to read a brick wall.

He gave my notebook back to me with his response.

_Do you really not know how you feel? Or are you just afraid to let yourself feel something?_

Who was this kid, a Confucian monk?

Before I could respond, the professor signaled the end of class and I packed away my notebook. Standing, I turned to Noba and asked, "Noba, just how old are you? Because sometimes, you talk as if you've lived for hundreds of years." Noba stared at me for a moment with his aquamarine eyes, winked, and walked away.

"What were you talking to Noba about?" Renji asked, slinging an arm around my shoulders as he came up next to me.

"Oh, nothing really," I replied. "I was just asking him if he'd had a good weekend." Renji just tussles up my hair in response as Ichigo joins us as we walk out of the lecture hall together.

"Hey Ichigo," I said, looking up and to my left, "will you study with me after classes today? I missed some of today's lecture."

"I'm surprised you caught any of it, since I noticed you playing several games of tic-tac-toe instead of taking notes." Renji remarked.

"Sure." Ichigo replied, ignoring Renji completely. "Do you just want to meet in our usual spot, at our usual time?"

"Sounds like a plan." I replied, as I started to head in a different direction from him and Renji. "I'll see you guys later."

"Bye, Rukia." They both said.

I sighed as I walked to my next class. Calculus. Ugh. _At least I have it with Momo and Toshiro_. They made that class bearable, but only just.

I really don't like Mondays.

**A/N: I thought that I'd write the next chapter from Rukia's point of view. I want this story to be mostly from Ichigo's perspective, but I'll probably let Rukia speak every once in a while. Is there anybody else you'd like to hear from? Leave me a review with your thoughts. **


	3. Preparation

I stared blankly at my physics homework. Finals were in a few days, and I was starting to stress out over my classes. Since I hadn't gotten anywhere in my studying in the last hour, I glanced at my watch. _She's late, _I thought, feeling my brows furrow. I looked around at the other students studying around me, checking to see that she didn't sit somewhere else or not see me. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw someone approaching my table. I turned and saw Rukia approaching with Momo and Toshiro in tow. She pulled out the chair next to me and dropped her books on the table with a loud bang, making half of the library look over at our table in shock. "Geez, Rukia. Way to be conspicuous," I said as Momo and Toshiro sat at the two chairs across from us. She just gave me a look that was somewhere in the family of a glare, and opened her physics book. Her grey eyes looked purpler today, probably because she was wearing a purple sundress.

"Okay, let's do this studying thing." She said, looking over at me expectantly. I sighed, and started to explain the concepts that we went over in lecture that day, trying not to get distracted by Toshiro whispering confidingly into Momo's ear and making her giggle. _Couples._ I thought. _They never make any sense._

* * *

Finals week went by in a blur of deadlines and tests, with the occasional dream about missing a final. I was glad once it was over. I was packing my suitcase in preparation for our departure tomorrow morning when Ishida knocked on my door. He watched me pack for a few moments before speaking. "Is that really what you're bringing?" He asked. I looked down at the shirt I currently held in my hand. It was one of the t-shirts that I'd had since high school.

"Yeah," I said, looking up in time to see a look of disgust flit across his face. "What's wrong with it?"

"It looks like you robbed a homeless man. Do you have any shirts that you've bought in the last 2 years?"

"I don't like shopping for new clothes. It's a waste of time."

Ishida looked at me with complete horror. "Looking good is never a waste of time!"

"I look fine."

"You could look better."

"I'm fine as I am, Ishida."

"I can prove it."

"How?"

Ishida pulled out his phone and dialed a number quickly. "Hey… could you come over for a second?"

I looked at him in confusion. "Who are you calling?" I whispered.

"You'll be here in five? Okay…great. Thanks… bye." He hung up the phone and looked at me smugly.

"Who did you just call?" I asked, his smug smile starting to make me nervous.

He didn't reply. Instead, his smile became even wider. I'd never seen Ishida smile so much at once. It was downright creepy. I jumped as my bedroom window popped open suddenly, Rukia slipping lithely onto my desk. Perching there, she eyed first me, and then Ishida, still standing in my bedroom doorway. "Okay, why am I here?" She asked.

I shrugged my shoulders. "Bollocks if I know," I said. "He's the one who called you," I said, pointing to Ishida. She stared at Ishida with a single-minded intensity.

"Rukia, look in Ichigo's suitcase." Ishida commanded.

Rukia looked at my suitcase warily. "Why, what's in it?"

"I just need you to tell me what you think of his shirts."

Rukia looked relieved. "Oh, I don't have to look at them to tell you what I think; I know every one of his shirts by heart."

Ishida looked at me triumphantly. "That is when you know you need to get some new clothes, my friend."

"If I agree to get new clothes after this trip, will you leave me alone?" I asked, throwing a few more shirts into my suitcase.

"That's all I needed to hear," Ishida said, already turning around and heading downstairs. "Thanks Rukia!" He called behind him.

"Why do I feel like I've just been used?" Rukia asked me.

"It's because you have, hun," I said while reaching around Rukia to grab my phone charger off of my desk.

She looked at me with a confused expression on her face, flushing slightly. "I should go," she said abruptly.

"What?" I asked. "You've only just gotten here; stay and relax for a while."

She tucked her legs up underneath her and crouched on my desk, preparing to jump back out of my window. "I need to finish packing too, so I really should go."

Seeing that she was about to jump, I impulsively grabbed her wrist, causing her to give me a confused look for the second time that night. "See you tomorrow?" I asked.

She rolled her eyes at me. "Of course, dummy. I'm coming tomorrow morning so that I can head to the train station with you guys."

"Just making sure," I replied. Before I released her wrist, I stepped closer and tucked one of her errant strands of short black hair behind her ear, letting my hand linger on her cheek for a indulgent moment. "Be careful on your way home."

A brief smile fluttered on her lips, and she was gone.

After staring out the window after her for a moment, I sighed and turned around to resume my packing. I was so caught up in my thoughts that I didn't notice Noba standing in my doorway for a few moments. When I looked up at him, I asked, "How long have you been standing there?"

I reply, he only nodded towards the window and said, "You're totally screwed."

I sighed. _If only you knew how much._

**A/N: I hope you enjoyed this chapter! Sorry for the long break in between updates. I'm going to try and get a new chapter up every week, but we'll see how crazy life gets. Let me know what you think! I really appreciate your reviews and thoughts!**


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